Thursday, December 07, 2006

Rona Ambrose Pontificates To The Masses

I have been quite criticial of Rona Ambrose's frequent no-shows before parliament committees. After reading some of her comments at the Senate committee today, I now understand why she avoids the spotlight. Rona Ambrose doesn't make sense:
Ambrose stressed that industry alone cannot solve the problem of rising greenhouse emissions, and individuals must do more. She said she has installed efficient light bulbs in her own house.

“Canadians have to make choices in their own homes — turn off the lights more, use less water, buy a more fuel-efficient vehicles, take public transit.

“We need every single Canadian to do that. This has to be a collaborative effort.”

When asked why her government cut consumer-driven programs like the One Ton Challenge and the Energuide program, Ambrose responded with this mystifying comment:
“There’s never been a comprehensive audit or review done of the climate-change programs across government, ever.”

Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell pointed to an internal government memo that concluded the programs had been successful, actually surpassing their goals. But, let's not split hairs here and agree with Ambrose about a full-audit to gauge effectiveness. If you agree with Ambrose, does it not beg the question- why did you cut programs before you determined if they were effective? When you slash a government program, shouldn't there be some empirical evidence to support the cut?

Ambrose all but admitted that these programs were cut in a kneejerk fashion, without logic, as part of a scorched earth policy towards any Liberal initiatives. What is even more replusive, Ambrose has the audacity to lecture committee on the need for consumer participation to reduce emissions. Ambrose has promised new initiatives aimed at consumers, but all her government has done to date is cut pre-existing programs. What does it say about this government's competence to slash programs before you have something else in mind? The Conservatives will take us back to square one, after wasting a year, just so they can put their own stamp on legislation. I have no problem moving beyond the old programs, but what we are witnessing here is a callous shell game. Ambrose is a joke, this government is an environmental fraud, and we should all pray that Dion and May hammer the crap out of these dinosaurs, because we can't afford this sideshow anymore.

9 comments:

Robert said...

You know Steve, the line under your blog title is incorrect; there was nothing incoherent about this post.

The scary part is, most people have tuned out to the extent that they haven't caught that these inconsistencies are all the Harper Gov't has to offer.

Steve V said...

"The scary part is, most people have tuned out to the extent that they haven't caught that these inconsistencies are all the Harper Gov't has to offer."

Hey Robert! I really believe Harper's entire approach to government is predicated on the belief that they can manipulate a largely disinterested electorate.

Steve V said...

ex-ndp

Just curious what that has to do with cancelling effective programs?

Anonymous said...

ex-ndip's next post will be about the flat earth controversy since there are still 62 people on earth who believe the earth isn't a globe.

The President of Shell needs to get on this assholes case.

Steve V said...

dana

I was thinking it might be titled "Why Copernicus Is Wrong?"

Anonymous said...

The science denial cabal continues to amaze me.

How they've managed to maintain traction is going to become one of the greatest hurdles the media is going to have to overcome in their attempt to return to their former position of trust in my opinion.

The science is in. Full stop. Just like the science is in on gravity or heliocentricity.

Are they all medieval catholics or what?

They're all idiots that's a certainty so maybe they are.

Steve V said...

dana

Maybe the problem with these people, they start with a bias and despite the mountains of evidence, there is always one or two crackpot scientists that argue the opposite, which gives them something to hang their hat on. The scary part, the most powerful man in the world, as well as are current PM, have shown this bias.

Anonymous said...

I saw the Environment Commissioner interviewed after her report came out. She said the environment file was a mess BUT it was beginning to work and there were some good programmes set in place.

Typical of neo-cons and NDP - they "cherry picked" her report and only refer to the failure section in the report.

Anonymous said...

ex-ndip - is just a "sh**t disbturber" - says he/she is ex NDP but doesn't say what party he supports.

Goes all over the blogosphere with crap just to "try" create havoc - not worth the read.